New Red Sox pitching prospect Kyson Witherspoon owns ‘one of the harder fastballs in the class’; Tigers select his twin brother

The Red Sox selected right-handed starting pitcher Kyson Witherspoon with the No. 15 overall pick on Sunday night during the first round of the MLB Draft.

He was the first starting pitcher selected in the first round by the Red Sox since they drafted Tanner Houck with the No. 24 overall pick in the 2017 amateur draft. Witherspoon is also the highest the Red Sox have taken a pitcher in the first round since they drafted Jay Groome with the No. 12 pick in the 2016 draft.

The 20-year-old Witherspoon is another key addition to the Red Sox pitching pipeline that has been created under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. The hard-throwing righty's addition immediately adds another young arm to Boston's ever-expanding minor league pitching talent pool.

“Kyson is a guy we valued highly entering the draft, and we believe he is one of the top college arms in the class,” said Devin Pearson, director of amateur scouting for the Red Sox. “We think he fits in nicely with our development strengths and has the right makeup to pitch at Fenway Park. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome him to Red Sox Nation.”

Prior to Sunday night’s draft, the Oklahoma standout was ranked as the No. 7 prospect, according to Baseball America. He was the consensus top college right-hander available and was one of the top college hurlers over the last two seasons.

Witherspoon is coming off a strong junior season where he struck out 124 batters in 95 innings while recording a 2.65 ERA. He earned First Team All-American honors along with a litany of other awards, helping Oklahoma to a 38-22 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

The 6-foot-2, 206-pound standout has an electric fastball that peaks at 99 mph.

“It’s one of the harder fastballs in the class, and he’s shown an impressive ability to maintain his velocity deep into starts and deep into the season,” Baseball America wrote about the new Red Sox prospect.

His big-time velocity will slot well into the Red Sox pitching program.

On Father’s Day, Boston added left-hander Kyle Harrison in the Rafael Devers trade; Payton Tolle has added tremendous velocity to his fastball, topping out at 98.9 mph; David Sandlin consistently sits in the upper 90s; lefty Brandon Clarke sits between 96 and 99 mph, topping out at 100 mph; and Connelly Early added significant velocity to his fastball, topping out at 96 mph, after sitting in the low 90s when he was drafted. 

Boston also drafted two other hard-throwing pitchers with three of their first four picks on Sunday night in University of Tennessee righty Marcus Phillips and College World Series champion, LSU righty Anthony Eyanson. 

The Red Sox have not been afraid to add pitchers with high octane. 

“With Kyson, it’s big velocity,” Pearson said. “And he’s held it over a lot of innings with some really good breaking pitches. Whether it’s his cutter or slider, a lot of upside there to continue to maximize his mix. But a strike thrower with high velo and interesting secondary shapes.”

His pitch mix, aside from his fastball, includes a mid-80s slider that occasionally reaches the low 90s, as well as a cutter, curveball, and changeup. MLB Pipeline highlighted that Witherspoon has made significant strides in commanding his arsenal while on the mound. Under the guidance of the Red Sox pitching infrastructure, he could climb through the lower levels of the farm system quickly.

“College starters who saw sizable workloads like Witherspoon are typically shelved after signing to rest their arms, but more often than not, they end up moving quickly right out of the gates when they do make their minor league debuts,” Baseball America wrote. “Depending on where he lands, Witherspoon is likely to be a pitcher who should breeze through the lower levels and land in the upper minors in the first half of 2026.”

Dan O'Dowd, a former Rockies general manager and MLB Network contributor, praised the Red Sox for drafting the former Sooner.

“This guy has more upside of anyone that’s been taken from a pitching standpoint. I think this young man is just stretching the surface of how good he can be.”

Witherspoon’s twin brother, Malachi, was also drafted on Sunday night. The Tigers took the righty with the 62nd pick of the draft.

Malachi, who also went to the University of Oklahoma, also features a 99 mph fastball but has struggled with his command in the zone, according to scouts. 

Pitching for the Sooners, hitters hit his fastball hard; however, he found greater success with his curveball. He spent two years at Oklahoma and went 6-10 while recording a 5.23 ERA with 119 strikeouts to 42 walks in 96 1/3 innings (35 games).

Malachi was initially drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks during the 2022 MLB Draft but opted to go to the University of Oklahoma.

Unlike his brother, Kyson wasn’t considered a blue-chip prospect during his high school days at Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Fla. Perfect Game rated him as the No. 428 shortstop in the nation. He would switch from a shortstop to a pitcher; he credits his time as a shortstop for helping develop the arm action he needed to fire his fastball to opposing batters.

“I think just the arm path thing—it was never something I really intentionally tried to do,” Witherspoon said. “Coming from a shortstop background throughout high school, I think just the shorter arm path was pretty comfortable for me already.”